Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 25

6 A.M. 82.2.

9 A.M. 85.3.

12 m. 91.3.

3 P.M. 90.2.

6 P.M. 85.8.

9 P.M. 83.5.

The same for the month of January 1838, determined by observations made from the 1st to the 19th inclusive, was:

6 A.M. 78.2.

9 A.M. 84.3.

12 M. 83.1.

3 P.M. 85.7.

6 P.M. 80.7.

9 P.M. 83.4.

I should observe that the mean temperature for 9 P.M. for this month is deduced from only seven days observation.

The same as the above for the month of February, taken twelve miles to the south of Hanover Bay, from the 19th to the 26th February inclusive, is as follows:

6 A.M. 77.0.

9 A.M. 86.0.

12 A.M. 92.7.

3 P.M. 94.0.

6 P.M. 83.3.

ABORIGINES, THEIR HABITS AND MANNERS.

I was never fortunate enough to succeed in obtaining a friendly interview with the natives of these parts; but I have repeatedly seen them closely, was twice forced into dispute with them and, in one of these instances, into deadly conflict. My knowledge of them is chiefly drawn from what I have observed of their haunts, their painted caves, and drawings. I have moreover become acquainted with several of their weapons, some of their ordinary implements, and I took some pains to study their disposition and habits as far as I could.

In their manner of life, their roving habits, their weapons, and mode of hunting, they closely resemble the other Australian tribes with which I have since become pretty intimately acquainted; whilst in their form and appearance there is a striking difference. They are in general very tall and robust, and exhibit in their legs and arms a fine full development of muscle which is unknown to the southern races.

They wear no clothes, and their bodies are marked by scars and wales.

They seem to have no regular mode of dressing their hair, this appearing to depend entirely on individual taste or caprice.

They appear to live in tribes subject, perhaps, to some individual authority; and each tribe has a sort of capital, or headquarters, where the women and children remain whilst the men, divided into small parties, hunt and shoot in different directions. The largest number we saw together amounted to nearly two hundred, women and children included.

THEIR WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.

Their arms consist of stone-headed spears (which they throw with great strength and precision) of throwing sticks, boomerangs or kileys, clubs, and stone hatchets. The dogs they use in hunting I have already stated to be of a kind unknown in other parts of Australia, and they were never seen wild by us.

The natives manufacture their water-buckets and weapons very neatly; and make from the bark of a tree a light but strong cord. Their huts, of which I only saw those on the sea-coast, are constructed in an oval form of the boughs of trees, and are roofed with dry reeds. The diameter of one which I measured was about fourteen feet at the base.

LANGUAGE.

Their language is soft and melodious, so much so as to lead to the inference that it differs very materially, if not radically, from the more southern Australian dialects which I have since had an opportunity of enquiring into. Their gesticulation is expressive, and their bearing manly and n.o.ble. They never speared a horse or sheep belonging to us and, judging by the degree of industry shown in the execution of some of their paintings, the absence of anything offensive in the subjects delineated, and the careful finish of some articles of common use, I should infer that under proper treatment they might easily be raised very considerably in the scale of civilization.

INDIVIDUALS OF AN ALIEN WHITE RACE.

A remarkable circ.u.mstance is the presence amongst them of a race, to appearance, totally different, and almost white, who seem to exercise no small influence over the rest. I am forced to believe that the distrust evinced towards strangers arose from these persons, as in both instances, when we were attacked, the hostile party was led by one of these light-coloured men.

SIMILARITY OF CUSTOMS WITH OTHER AUSTRALIAN TRIBES.

Captain King, who had previously experienced the same feelings of ill-will in the natives of Vansittart Bay, attributed them to the periodical visits of the Malays during the season of the trepang fishery.

He says (volume 1 page 320):

On this beach (of Vansittart Bay) we found a broken earthen pot, which decidedly proved the fact of the Malays visiting this part of the coast, and explained the mischievous disposition of the natives.

I saw but three men of this fair race myself, and thought they closely resembled Malays; some of my men observed a fourth.

NATIVES AT ROEBUCK BAY.

An individual differing in appearance and colour from his aboriginal a.s.sociates was also seen amongst a native tribe whilst the boats of the Beagle were surveying in Roebuck Bay, and is thus ably described by Mr.

Usberne, the master of the vessel; who was in command of the boat at the time he was observed, and who thus narrates the interview:*

(*Footnote. Nautical Magazine for 1840 page 576.)

To prevent interruption during dinner the things were removed to the boat, and she was then shoved a few yards off the beach, and we commenced our repast.

As we took to the water they (the natives) rose and followed us close; but in the act of shoving off, the boat-hook being pointed over the bow, they one and all involuntarily stepped back a couple of paces, thinking no doubt that it was one of our spears, which to them must have appeared a formidable weapon; but, seeing no harm was intended, they remained at the water's edge, watching us whilst at dinner.

At this time I had a good opportunity of examining them. They were about the middle age, about five feet six inches to five feet nine in height, broad shoulders, with large heads and overhanging brows; but it was not remarked that any of their teeth were wanting (as we afterwards observed in others); their legs were long and very slight, and their only covering a bit of gra.s.s suspended round the loins. There was an exception in the youngest, who appeared of an entirely different race: his skin was a copper colour, whilst the others were black; his head was not so large, and more rounded; the overhanging brow was lost; the shoulders more of a European turn, and the body and legs much better proportioned; in fact he might be considered a well-made man at our standard of figure. They were each armed with one, and some with two, spears, and pieces of stick about eight feet long and pointed at both ends. It was used after the manner of the Pacific Islanders, and the throwing-stick so much in use by the natives of the south did not appear known to them.

After talking loud, and using very extravagant gestures, without any of our party replying, the youngest threw a stone, which fell close to the boat.

COINCIDENCE OF CUSTOMS.

It appears to me very probable that the same dark-coloured race inhabit the whole of Northern Australia, and perhaps extend over the islands in Torres Strait.

In order to support this opinion I shall first give an extract from the journal of Dr. Duncan, from Wilson's Voyage round the World, page 148, which contains a detail of the customs of Flinders Islands and part of Northern Australia, and displays two or three remarkable customs coinciding with those observed by myself and others to exist in Northwest Australia:

At 8 hours 40 minutes P.M. the colonial brig Mary arrived, bringing along with her a native of India, whom she picked up on one of Flinders Islands.

On the 18th July the Lascar came on board the Success, and from him I learned the following particulars: That he belonged to the s.h.i.+p Fame, which was wrecked in the Straits; that he and a few others escaped in a leaky boat after rowing for forty-eight hours. On landing the natives stripped them of their clothes, etc., but otherwise behaved very kindly to them. His companions in misfortune died the first year of his residence amongst the natives, which in all amounted, he said, to six or seven years.

The men in that part of Australia have from five to ten wives, of whom they are rather jealous at times. The tribes are continually at war with one another, and have regular pitched battles; but the moment that one is killed on either side, the battle ceases, until they carry off their dead, and mourn for certain days, according to their custom; bedaubing themselves over with black earth, and on another day the fight begins and ends in a similar way.

DISPOSAL OF THEIR DEAD.

This is singularly a.n.a.logous to what occurred on our encounter with them on the 11th February. Dr. Duncan continues:

When one dies or is killed they bury the body in the earth, but at the end of five days dig it up again and wrap up the bones, etc., in bark of trees, and carry them along with them. When the women fight, which is very often, they use a short kind of club. The natives paint their bodies over with red clay to prevent the mosquitoes from biting them. When they paint their bodies white it is a sign of war with some other tribe.